


Back To The Light

by LadyMadrigal



Series: The Kensington Tales [1]
Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Domestic Violence, M/M, domestic violence but he gets away
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:47:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26672416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyMadrigal/pseuds/LadyMadrigal
Summary: Aziraphale Pratchett wasn't really ghosted by his abusive ex. He wasn't that lucky.However, he found out that he had friends he could actually count on.
Series: The Kensington Tales [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1941532
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	Back To The Light

**Author's Note:**

> MIND THE TAGS.  
> This one starts out very dark - domestic abuse and its aftermath - but Aziraphale is going to be all right in the end.  
> This is a sort of mini prequal to "Winter's Tale." It happens after his first meeting with Crowley, but the two of them haven't really started to get to know each other yet. In fact, Crowley isn't aware of just how catastrophic Aziraphale's "relationship" with Gabriel was.

He usually didn’t leave bruises that showed – he was careful like that – but this time he’d landed a particularly vicious blow that left Aziraphale with what he knew was going to be a nasty black eye, along with a mass of other bruises and what he feared were cracked ribs. After one final kick, he’d stormed out, presumably to find one of his other side pieces, after telling Aziraphale that he’d damn well better be there with breakfast waiting when he returned in the morning, or there would be even greater consequences. 

He didn’t think Aziraphale would dare leave the flat in such a state. 

He was very wrong. 

Aziraphale stayed huddled on the floor until he heard the elevator door close in the after-midnight quiet, then hurried to the window, looking out, watching as Gabriel strode away. Once he was in a cab and well out of sight, Aziraphale did the only thing he could think to do – grabbed some of his clothes, the Bible case he’d hidden the photo of Rose in and his wallet and left, throwing one of Gabriel’s hooded sweatshirts over his clothes and pulling the hood up so no one would see his face – or the bruises. He could only think of one place to go.

The office. 

The lobby was open, but no one was around. He took the elevator to the fourth floor, let himself into the suite with the key Jim had given him the week he started and made his way to his desk, sinking down in the chair and burying his face in his hands. 

He didn’t know what to do, but he knew that if he did what Gabriel demanded, he’d end up dead. 

He was honestly rather surprised that the idea wasn’t as appealing as it seemed it should have been.

It hadn’t occurred to him to ask any of the others for help. He’d never had anyone to turn to. He didn’t think they’d want to be bothered, and he couldn’t much blame them….

He didn’t realize he was crying until a sob got away from him. 

It was too much. Terrified, broken, finally feeling the pain from his many injuries, he huddled at his desk and wept. 

~*~

Maddy Baker got to the office a good hour earlier than usual the next morning and found Aziraphale huddled at his desk with his hands over his face. 

“Zira?” She was surprised, to say the least. “Are you all right?”

“I…” He looked up and she sucked in a little dismayed breath. His right eye was badly bruised and almost swollen shut. 

“What on earth – who did this to you?!” She gently brushed cool fingers across the battered flesh. “You poor thing!”

Aziraphale looked down, unable to stifle a sob. “M-my boyfriend…” He expected disgust, derision, rejection…

“You need to get away from him. Like now.” She felt sick. Aziraphale was easily the sweetest person on earth besides Brian May. 

“No, it – it was my fault – he t-told me to quit and I-I argued with him…” Aziraphale managed to sob. 

“It is not your fault. I don’t care how much you argued with him. He had no right to hurt you,” she said. “And who does he think he is, wanting you to quit your job? He should be proud of you. He should be supporting you. That’s what partners do.”

“I…” Aziraphale sniffled, looking down again. 

“Do you live with him?” 

He nodded. 

“We need to get you out of there. I’m going to talk to Jim and the others. I bet even Freddie would let you stay with him and Tianna. But you need to get out of there now.” Her voice was gentle, but firm. “Has he hit you before?”

Aziraphale nodded again. “J-just not where it shows. He…he wanted to make me too ashamed to leave the flat, but I…I…if I’d stayed there he probably would have killed me when he came back…” He trailed off, realizing. “He’s probably back by now and I’m not there and he’s going to f-find me and…I can’t drag you into this, Maddy, I can’t…” He broke down sobbing again. “I’m going to get you hurt, too!”

“You’re not dragging me into anything. Shh. It’s going to be all right. We’ll help you.” She hugged him. 

“I should have stayed there. I should have just let him…whatever…” Aziraphale finally sniffled. “Wh-what was I thinking…”

“No. Absolutely not. You did the right thing.”

“But…I deserved it…”

“Zira, listen to me.” She pushed him back to look at him. “You do not deserve to be abused. Nobody does. You did the right thing getting away. And we’re going to help you get away for good. And if he tries to follow you here, I am going to rip his balls off with my staple puller and staple them to his forehead.” As she spoke, she pulled herself up onto the desk to sit on it. 

“Maddy…”

“You think I won’t?” She picked up the staple remover and clacked it together threateningly. “Nobody messes with my friends.”

Aziraphale’s eyes went wide. “You…I’m your…?”

“What? My friend? Of course you are. Beez knew what she was doing when she told Holly and Jim you’d fit in here perfectly.” She took his hand and squeezed it. “It’s going to be okay. We’re here for you. You can even stay with me if you need to. I don’t have a spare bedroom, but I still have a futon and you’re more than welcome to it. Just so long as you don’t mind an obnoxious budgie with a larger vocabulary than Boris Johnson.”

He looked down. “I – nobody’s ever been nice to me like this before. I – I don’t know what I could do to repay you…”

“There’s nothing to repay. This is what friends do. But - could I ask you something kind of personal. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“What?”

“The Shepards abused you too, didn’t they?”

“I…don’t know. I mean, it was just how they…” He shrugged. “It’s me. I can’t do much of anything right.”

“Zira, I’ve only known you about three and a half weeks, but I have a very hard time believing that any of it was you.” She gave his hand another squeeze, just as Holly came in. 

“Hey, what’s going on – oh dear God, Zira! You poor thing! What on earth happened!” She’d seen his eye. 

“His boyfriend beat the snot out of him,” Maddy said. “He’s been hiding out here since late last night.”

“You should have texted one of us!” Holly said. “We would have come and gotten you.”

“I couldn’t have. He monitors everything on my phone. I can’t put anything on it,” Aziraphale sniffled. “I – left it there. At the flat. So he maybe couldn’t track me…”

Holly looked both stunned and horrified. “You read about bastards like that…” She shook her head. “When did all this happen?”

“When I got home. I didn’t get his text telling me to have dinner on the table when he got home at five. So – I didn’t have it ready. He told me I had to quit my job. I told him no and – he really laid into me…” Aziraphale put his hands over his face. “I should have done as he said…”

“Hell no you shouldn’t have. Who the fuck tells their partner to do something like that?!” Holly demanded. “That is so messed up. How long have you been here?”

“I don’t know. Since late. He finally left and told me I’d better have breakfast waiting for him when he got back this morning or else and I – I ran when I knew he was gone. I didn’t know where else to go. I was just so scared…” Scared was a mild word for his distress. 

“You poor thing,” Maddy said. “And I’ll bet you didn’t even have anything to eat since…oh God. Did you even have any lunch yesterday?” She remembered he hadn’t brought anything and hadn’t joined them ordering-in. 

He shook his head. “I think day before yesterday…” Ned had brought in bagels and he’d taken half of one of the remaining ones after everyone else had taken their share. “He – my boyfriend – says I need to lose weight…” He looked down. Gabriel controlled everything. He didn’t even have money, let alone a charge card, so buying lunch was out of the question. He hadn’t wanted to let on out of shame. 

“Holly, wait here with him. I’ll be right back,” Maddy decided, grabbing her bag and heading for the door. 

~*~

When Jim and Ned arrived about half and hour later, Maddy had finally coaxed poor Aziraphale into eating part of the egg sandwich and drinking some of the cocoa she’d run and bought him. It was the closest he’d come to an actual meal in weeks. 

“Zira? What happened?!” Jim exclaimed, appalled. 

Maddy and Holly ended up explaining because poor Aziraphale was too exhausted and shattered to get the story out again. 

“What the _fuck_!!” Ned exploded when they finished. 

Aziraphale, thinking Ned’s fury was directed at him, looked away with a sob. “I’m sorry. I’ll…I’ll leave…”

"What the…? No, Zira. You are not going anywhere.” Ned sat on the desk in front of him, taking him by the shoulders. “We are going to be setting you up in a safe place until you can find a new flat. And we’re also going to make it very clear to that bastard that he’s going to leave you alone or else.”

“The police aren’t going to do anything,” Aziraphale sniffled dismally. “I know, I…”

“Screw them. _We’re_ going to do something about it,” Ned said. “We take care of our own here.”

“Exactly,” Jim said. 

~*~

It was the last thing poor Aziraphale had expected. 

He’d expected to be fired, kicked out, end up homeless yet again until Gabriel finally found him and killed him. 

He hadn’t expected Ned and Jim to accompany him back to the flat to get the rest of his things – what little he had – as well as prepare to have Gabriel served with a strongly worded memo that he had best hand over the money he’d taken from poor Aziraphale, along with an extra 1,000.00 for what he’d just put him through, and then vanish from his life forever. He hadn’t expected that Maddy would take him to get a cellphone and charger – and make very sure that her and Holly’s numbers were in his contacts list, along with his in theirs – after accompanying him to A&E to make sure he didn’t have any serious injuries. 

Nor had he expected to be put up in the firm’s suite they kept reserved at the Grand until he could find a place. 

He emerged from the bathroom, finally feeling better after a long hot shower, to find texts from Maddy, Jim and Holly asking how he was doing and if he needed anything. 

_Stay there until we get hold of Gabriel and talk to him, okay?_ Jim advised. _You’re safe there. They don’t let anyone up on that floor without a key card. Don’t worry, you’re on paid leave until we get him straightened out. We’re NOT getting rid of you._

_Sweetie, let me know if you need anything sent up. And call me if you need me. I don’t care what time it is._ Maddy had texted. _I found you on FB and sent you a friend request too, so you can always message me there, too._

 _Call us if you need anything. And Jim said to wait there until it’s safe. We’ll talk to you tomorrow. Get some rest, babe. We all love you._ That was Holly. 

He shyly thanked everyone, accepted Maddy’s friend request, then, feeling nervous, sent one to Holly, which was almost immediately accepted. A few minutes later, he received one from Beez as well – along with a little reminder from Maddy to order something to eat. 

He finally worked up the nerve to call room service and order a sandwich, then snuggled in bed to scroll Facebook for a bit, discovering that Maddy hadn’t been exaggerating about her budgie’s vocabulary, judging from the videos she’d posted of the adorable yellow bird, who was a girl and named Freddie, monologuing away. She also had a rather fat blonde hamster named Harvey. After about half an hour, he switched the light off and snuggled under the covers, exhausted and aching, but, for the first time ever in his life, truly safe.

And far less alone than he had ever been.


End file.
